A large number of compositions have been disclosed which impart softening and antistatic properties to laundered fabrics. Generally, these contain cationic compounds, especially quaternary and imidazolinium salts. These compositions are widely marketed for home use in the form of emulsions which are added to the washing machine during the rinse cycle. If these emulsions are added during the wash cycle the cationic fabric conditioners interact with anionic substances present in the washing composition (laundry detergent), thus rendering both relatively ineffective.
Another means of providing fabric conditioning which has attained some commercial success is to add the conditioning agent while the clothes are being machine dried.
While fabric conditioning during either the rinse and/or drying cycles can be effective, both methods are more inconvenient than a through-the-wash method would be, where the conditioning agent is added with the detergent at the initiation of the wash cycle.
Certain compositions are already known which provide fabrics with a detergency treatment in a washing machine, combined with a fabric conditioning treatment in a subsequent dryer machine. Compositions of this type are known in the art as through-the-washing conditioners. These are convenient to use in that they do not require the use of a second product in the rinse or dryer cycle.
Through-the-wash type conditioning agents are well known in the art. European Patent Publication No: 0,123,400, published Oct. 31, 1984 discloses detergent compositions containing salts of specified tertiary amines and Carboxylic acids which are utilized in the form of nodules which pass virtually unchanged through the wash and rinse, and condition the fabric when heated in a dryer. More recently, European Patent Publication No. 0,133,804 published Mar. 6, 1985 discloses detergent compositions containing clay fabric softeners and particles of a complex of a long chain amine and a fatty acid. U.S. Pat. No. 4,514,444 to Ives discloses a fabric cleaning/conditioning composition comprising carboxylic acid salts of a tertiary amine in combination with polyethylene glycol U.S. Pat. No. 4,375,416 to Crisp et al discloses a textile softening detergent composition comprising a specified class of tertiary amines with a smectite-type clay.
Other recent prior art relating to the field of the invention includes U.S. Pat. No. 4,237,155 to Kardouche which discloses a dryer-added fabric conditioning agent comprised of a carboxylic acid salt of a tertiary amine.